Saint-Etienne, Troyes aim to pull clear of drop zone | OneFootball

AS Saint-Etienne and ESTAC Troyes meet at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard on Friday in the opening game of Round 29, with both clubs having found some form as they battle to avoid relegation.

AS Saint-Etienne - ESTAC Troyes Friday at 21:00 CET (2000 GMT)

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Saint-Etienne have been the form team at the foot of the table in recent weeks and should fancy their chances of claiming all three points here in front of their own fans at Le Chaudron. Pascal Dupraz’s team held reigning champions LOSC to a goalless draw in Lille last weekend and have lost just one of their last seven outings. That was a 3-1 defeat away to Paris Saint-Germain in which they did not disgrace themselves. That is not a bad run of form for a side who had lost seven in a row prior to that.

Watch: Saint-Etienne hold Lille

At the end of January, Les Verts propped up the division and sat five points away from outright safety. Now, with 10 games of the campaign still to play, they lie in the relegation play-off place, a point behind FC Lorient in 17th place and three points ahead of FC Metz in 19th. If survival at one point looked unlikely, it now looks highly possible if not quite probable under Dupraz, who took over in mid-December before gradually making his mark.

ESTAC on the up

Another win here will lift the record 10-time champions up above Troyes to the relatively giddy heights of 15th place, but their visitors will not be in the mood to make things easy. Eager to avoid an immediate return to Ligue 2, ESTAC have taken seven points from the last nine available. After holding Olympique de Marseille to a 1-1 draw at their own Stade de l’Aube, Troyes have beaten relegation rivals Girondins de Bordeaux (2-0) and then FC Nantes (1-0) in their last two outings.

From being locked in a four-way tie at the foot of the table following their 4-1 trouncing at Stade Rennais FC on February 20, Troyes are now five points clear of the automatic relegation spots and will move five clear of Saint-Etienne with a win here. However, Troyes have never won in seven previous visits to the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, losing six of those games.

Watch: Troyes shock Nantes

Enzo Crivelli is fit for the first time since arriving at Saint-Etienne from Turkish side Antalyaspor, but Saïdou Sow, Romain Hamouma, Yvan Neyou, Joris Gnagnon and Yvann Maçon are all sidelined. Issa Kaboré did not feature in the Troyes squad announced on the eve of the game, but Adil Rami is back.

What they’re saying

Pascal Dupraz (Saint-Etienne coach): “We come into this game with lots of confidence and determination, but we are not over-confident. We will have 30,000 supporters behind us and I can’t wait for tomorrow (Friday) at 9pm. It’s rare to look forward to getting older but I know the players can’t wait to see the supporters again too. We know we need to keep fighting to the end. We won’t give up. We are not worrying about our opponents’ results. If we maintain our current average of points per game then we’ll be fine. We are ready. I have said since the beginning that Saint-Etienne would stay up, but we won’t stay up with just 26 points. Things are going better but we can’t say we are safe yet.”

Bruno Irles (Troyes coach): “There was pressure on us before we played Marseille but we still played well. When you are in this situation, where you need points, there is going to be pressure. I want that pressure but that is what spurs us on and helps us fight on the pitch. Saint-Etienne are really on a great run. They are getting good results so it is going to be a great game.

Probable teams

Saint-Etienne: To follow

Troyes: To follow

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